North Korea has threatened Sunday to sink the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which was recently diverted to put it closer to the Korean Peninsula.
Officials in Pyongyang said the Carl Vinson’s deployment was “an extremely dangerous act by those who plan a nuclear war to invade the North,” NBC News reported.
“Our revolutionary forces are combat-ready to sink a U.S. nuclear- powered aircraft carrier with a single strike,” according to commentary in the North Korean Workers’ Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
The Carl Vinson Strike Group left San Diego Jan. 5. Earlier this month, it was diverted while en route to Australia and ordered to sail to a station in the Western Pacific Ocean in closer proximity to North Korea, according to Navy officials.
President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network earlier this month he was “sending an armada” toward the Korean Peninsula.
The strike group also includes the guided- missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy, and the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain. The group has been joined by two Japanese destroyers, according to news reports.
— City News Service
